Koutesu's Trip 2011

So here I am, at the Peacock on the east side of the resort area! We pulled into the Anaheim around 4pm coming from the Phoenix area. Last year my car picked up a nail on I-10 in western AZ, so luckily there wasn't an encore of that...

So we're a family of 10, staying in 2 standard rooms which are pretty nice. Imagine a standard 2 queen room set up, but there's a partition beyond the 2nd bed with a 2nd TV, micro, fridge, and sofa sleeper.

Tomorrow will be our first day at the parks. We bought our 3 day parkhoppers through my work ($169 for adults) as well as a set of Knott's tickets ($30 for an adult). We're excited!

I'm very tired right now. I drove the entire distance, but my Civic doesn't have cruise control. I also replaced a spark plug on Thurs, but it was so stuck I'm still sore from it! Plus, I've been working about 45-48 hours a week at work, even hitting up to 52 hours in a week since there have been Saturdays and days where we start an hour earlier @ 6am. In short: I NEED THIS VACATION!!

After plopping down in the room for a while, me and my sister went to retrieve dinner. We picked up some burgers from a place found in a little strip mall on the SE corner of West St and Chapman that was pretty good. Tasty Pizza is in this same plaza.

It's now past 8. I don't plan to go anywhere at this point in the night, but luckily I have my PSP for some Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep and Sakura Taisen 1&2

Re: Koutesu's Trip 2011

I hope you have a room on the front of the hotel as the back has a laundry facility that goes off all night long. We switched rooms and then our visit was great. We have stayed there twice and loved it once we changed our rooms. Enjoy your vacation. It sounds as if you really need it. We are going to Disneyland area in less than two weeks but not sure if we can financially do Disneyland but we sure are gonna try. If not we plan on DTD and fireworks and anything else Disney that we can find. Have fun and please do a trip report.

Re: Koutesu's Trip 2011

Originally Posted by lou_mom

I hope you have a room on the front of the hotel as the back has a laundry facility that goes off all night long. We switched rooms and then our visit was great. We have stayed there twice and loved it once we changed our rooms. Enjoy your vacation. It sounds as if you really need it. We are going to Disneyland area in less than two weeks but not sure if we can financially do Disneyland but we sure are gonna try. If not we plan on DTD and fireworks and anything else Disney that we can find. Have fun and please do a trip report.

We've been in the 2 room suite at the end of the hall next to the laundry before. This time we're before the fire doors.

We got everyone up already and it's now 5:37am. We're doing our Magic Morning this morning. Even before having dinner last night my little nieces were thanking their grandparents for taking them to Disneyland.

Re: Koutesu's Trip 2011

We had a very long day! We had Magic Morning and by some small miracle, our family of 10 got up early and got to the park by 7am!

It was nice having an empty park. Nemo was a walk on and Star Tours was only 15 min. By park opening it was breakfast time, and we chose the Riverbelle Terrace.

The park did fill up, but the crowds were manageable. We took it easy more in the heat of the day, hitting stuff like Captain EO, but were able to hit multiple Fantasyland attractions in the dusky hours, which is always a plus.

We had 3 different 101s today. My mom was taking my nieces on Roger Rabbit when it broke down. Then the same thing happened waiting in line for Pinnochio. My mom took my youngest niece on King Arthur's Carrousel. She told the CM that was the 3rd time today this has happened, so he gave her some front of line passes! We used them for Peter Pan, Space, and Splash.

My 4 year old niece (soon to be 5) had her first rides on Splash, Space, Thunder Mtn, and Star Tours!

Re: Koutesu's Trip 2011

We're so tired today! We spent yesterday at Disney California Adventure. We got there after opening and stayed until almost 9pm.

It was great to see the new park gates and use them. It's like already seeing a difference with the park's opening act. It's still mind blowing how far into Buena Vista Street construction the park has progressed and much further still we have to go until it's all done. With that section of the parade route closed off, it was a little more difficult to plan on a route that minimizes the number of steps you take in the park. Just an FYI, more people head right through Condor Flats/Grizzly Area, so if you're looking for a less congested path, go left through Hollywood Pictures Backlot and Bug's Land (during the day).

Our first destination: The Little Mermaid! At this time in the day it was only a 10 or 15 minute wait and the longest wait time I saw was 20 min. After the first ride, we got right BACK in line for a 2nd ride. My little nieces loved it! Mom was also excited to ride this. By the time we left it was 5 min or less. The line moved fast thanks to the omnimover system and this is definitely the type of attraction the park needs, especially since it has a lot of animatronics, a great music score, and it's a classic story.

We ate lunch at the Pacific Wharf since we didn't my dad walking too much. I opted for Bakersfield Broccoli (as did my mom and sister). I'm not sure what my brother in law and old niece had, but my newphew had a pretzel. My dad and brother had divine corn dogs! Me and my sister both had monkeys on our backs since we ordered lunch. I went back and bought Mickey cookies (saved one for my nieces, which is still intact as of this writing) and my sister bought a cinnamon roll, which was pretty good.

Afternoon/evening rides on Grizzly and Midway Mania were in order, but were so tired we decided to beat the crowds to the trams for a quick, easy ride back to the Chip & Dale parking level. My sister took the kids into Disneyland to ride Pirates. When we got back to the room, we ordered some Tasty Pizza and had a feast. For $30, we got 2 XL 2 topping pizzas, salad, spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread, and a 2 liter. It was just what we needed.

So today we're taking a day off. We are all sore. I'm only 30, but I feel 60 today. We do plan to go to Costco and pick up some muffins or something. The breakfast at our hotel has been kind of lousy compared to previous stays. My parents as well as my sister and brother in law will be going to the Shell Vacation presentation, which will mean an extra 100 Disney Dollars each. I plan on movies, internet, and Sakura Taisen

Re: Koutesu's Trip 2011

Thank you everyone! We are having a good time! My tired feet do feel better after a day of rest and my gut is full of Panda (which is only enhanced by Pepsi). Tomorrow it's off to Knott's Berry Farm. I haven't been there since 1999 when I was just a mere 18 years old. I look forward to the Calico Mine Train and the Timber Mountain Log Ride. I hope my nieces get to see Snoopy because they love him, but have never been to Knott's before.

Re: Koutesu's Trip 2011

Yesterday felt long as sun beat down on Knott's Berry Farm. The last time I was at this park was 1999, when I was only 18 years old. I still remember staying at a run down looking Best Western (inside and out) that is or was on Beach Blvd called the Aztec.

We set out to the park a little late, but were there around 10:30. Through Lifecare at work, we only paid like $30 for each adult ticket. That was a nice deal, but sticker shock hit us everywhere else. I've seen many complaints about prices at Disneyland. We discovered Knott's to be just as expensive, if not, more than Disneyland. A couple examples: Parking was $14 behind the hotel ($20 near Soak City). Churros were $4. A hamburger is $6 and is sold solo. If you want to make it a combo with fries and a soft drink, add $8. This means if you want a burger, fries, and drink, pay the beagle $14. A soft drink on it's own is $4.25. Look at the picture below. Yes. It's $4 for a 20 oz bottle of Pepsi.

One thing that did have value was the souvenir cup and the refill price for subsequent drink orders.

My little nieces fell in love with Camp Snoopy and they enjoyed the log ride. I was happy to see the Calico Mine train after all these years.

The plan today: I have to run over to Riverside. I'm going to Olivewood to see a friend. I won't go into detail as you can still probably find the news articles now, 3 years after it happened, but at least the trial set to finally begin next month. After I get back we plan to go to Huntington Beach.

Re: Koutesu's Trip 2011

This morning I made out to Riverside to see a friend who was also my roommate in 2008. He's from Riverside and that's where his family if rooted. Traffic on the 91 was fairly smooth in both directions, even when approaching the Costa Mesa Fwy on the WB side (though I saw quite a few feats of bad driving by Californians, for which they are famous).

When I returned to our hotel we got ready for Huntington Beach. More accurately, my family changed into beachwear as I don't go swimming. I really hate sand. It gets EVERYWHERE. I especially hate wet sand since it gets everywhere and it sticks. Eeew.

Me and mom walked down to Ruby's for shakes and enjoyed those under the gray clouds. The wind was blowing and the temperatures felt nice and cool. The rest of the family played on the beach and went into the water. As a kid, I learned that it's too cold to go swimming in SoCal (especially San Diego) when the swimming weather you're used to is 110 degrees.

Re: Koutesu's Trip 2011

wow, those beach shots look gorgeous! i'm not a big fan of beaches either but I do go in the water, just that I prefer lakes and rivers - no sharks and no sand!

great trip report so far, Knotts looks good but I think I'll wait till Oct for Haunt. keep it coming.

Thanks! Even with the glare shield enabled, I felt kind of blind taking photos and videos at the beach. I guess I should go ahead and say that the camera I used is actually a Kodak Play Sport, which came out within the last year or two. These guys are waterproof up to 3 meters and they have electronic stabilization. All the pics you see are taken with this camera. It does everything in widescreen.